TICE Graphics Step Outside the Box

February 26, 2020

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Written by Nikola Turas

#TICE2020 is a super special one for TICE Graphics as we have our first official sponsor, Orange Bus, working alongside us to bring the most remarkable experience to students from Boldon School and Jesmond Park Academy. For this year’s Insight Stage, we certainly did not disappoint. To document the very first stage of the programme, ex-TICE student and student at Whitburn CofE Academy, Nikola Turas, visited Boldon School to share her perspective…

It was just a year ago when I took part in the TICE Photography, and now here I am, working alongside mentor Mark Pattinson, introducing students from Boldon School and Jesmond Park Academy to the wonderful world of Graphic Design.

To kick off the exciting day ahead, Mark introduced himself and gave these eager students some insight into his everyday life in the Graphic Design industry. With his own experience working with many incredible companies including Jules B and Tommee Tippee, he had plenty to share. He then announced the theme for the day which could inspire their project, “There is good design, and then there’s GREAT design”. Great design is something outside the box. Something that’s unpredictable and yet makes complete sense. Most of the students proved they understood this concept very well as they began working on their starter activity. They had to create an image out of ordinary objects by drawing around them. Some of them showed immaculate creativity. A simple image of a blue jellybean became a great whale jumping out of the ocean, or Gumball from The Amazing World of Gumball.

After everyone’s brains had warmed up, Mark showed us the briefs for their afternoon activity which they were going to work on for the rest of the day. The students had three choices. They could either create a campaign image depicting: an artist releasing a new single, Cadbury’s celebrating 100 years of chocolate or Converse opening a new store in London. The students seemed very keen to get started as some of them even began searching google for inspiration before Mark had even finished talking. It was lovely to see such eagerness to work in these young people. Most of them had their heads down the whole time as they put down their innovative ideas to paper.

One of the students, John, chose to design a billboard for Converse. His design was themed around nature with the slogan “When nature calls”. He explained that when he went to London, he saw many posters and billboards advertising the environment and being eco-friendly which inspired his work. This was an example of just how potential was circulating in the classroom.

“One of the most interesting things was designing the poster from a brief and how everything influences the emotions and feelings towards the poster. I felt I learned more about how it works with designing and important knowledge on how to create something that is influential.”

Holly Bloomfield, Jesmond Park Academy

“The most interesting thing I learned was how different colours attract people and what they mean. This interested me as it showed you could make an award-winning advertisement out of a few simple colours. I believe this was interesting as it helped me further on in the insight day and inspired some of the things I added to the actual advert, it also effected what colours I added to my advert as some colours didn’t apply to converse at all.”

Samuel Lawley, Boldon School

When the activity came to a close at Boldon School, I had the opportunity to talk to all the students about different educational pathways into design and my personal experience, as I had just started receiving offers from universities. The students seemed engaged and asked me questions at the end like “what if I don’t know what I want to do in the future?”. Talking to each of the students individually throughout the day was impressive as they all had such unique ideas and perspectives on what makes a great design. I thought the day was fantastic, but it became even better when the students came to me to tell me how much they enjoyed it. “It lets me be creative which I love doing” and “If I could do it every year, I would” are words that haven’t left my mind since. It showed me how much young people need programmes like this to help them on their creative journey, and I know they feel the same.